Civil War Prison Food - Andersonville to Elmira
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose
#tastinghistory #civilwar
I realize I didn’t describe the crust! The flavor was mild, like mashed potato, but the texture was wonderfully fluffy, especially around the rim of the pie. I think it’d be perfect for savory pies.
More civil war and other war foods here: War Food Videos
ua-cam.com/play/PLIkaZtzr9JDkzso7Ip6ShAyRz-PEipsKB.html
Same
Makes me wonder how a shepherd's pie with potato crust would turn out...
a meat pie with potato crust sounds delicious
My great x3 grandpa survived Andersonville. I can’t imagine this was the kind of stuff he ate.🥺
i was thinking that sounded like a good topping for shepherds pie
I think the reason you rocketed up to 2.5 million subs is not because there are so many historical food lovers but more so that there are so many food lovers and history lovers out there and you successfully combined the two. You speak of both in equal parts and explain how one affected the other. It's a brilliant idea executed perfectly.
Yes - and because Max is cute and never talks down to his viewers.
A real Prince Charming.
Yes to the history and the food as separate reasons to come. But so many more things to stay for. Max’s great personality and sense of humour and awesome ability to pronounce so many different languages with what sounds like a fair amount of accuracy and certainly a good attempt. His clear love of different cultures so the show isn’t just US or European food history. Then there’s technical stuff like good sound and visual quality and sub-titling. Max is a great presenter you can tell he has performance experience. I’m sure there’s many other aspects I haven’t happened to notice although my personal favourite is that Max is a great researcher. He does his best to ensure things are factually correct and goes to the primary sources for the historical information. That alone is time consuming. All that with the actual recipe development wnd I don’t know how this channel manages to produce so much content. (And books!) Oh and he also seems like such a nice guy so who wouldn’t want to subscribe and get to hang with him.
Ooooo! Two Pokémon creatures!
@@hopenield8234 WELL SAID!!!
I had an ancestor in Andersonville. He was part of a prisoner exchange, and just went home instead of back into the army. Can't say I blame him.
Probably best
I had one too and when he was rescued at the end of the war, he was getting washed in a stream and they thought his skin was peeling off. Turned out it was his shirt he thought he had lost...
The horrors those men endured 😢. It's a miracle that any of them survived.
That must have been concerning for a minute, followed by laughter.@@betsyeverson859
Ditto... but from the other side.
One side of the family was a POW in Illinois, the other somewhere in New England (I forget where). We have the diary of the one who was held in Illinois, and he recalled that summer wasn't too bad because they supplemented their diet with an abundance of lizards... he was a POW and paroled not one but twice, and fought on till the end rather than go home.
I introduced my mom to this channel at the start of the year after she started getting too sick to do a lot and she loved the combination of cooking and history this channel provides. We'd talk about the new episodes and I'd actually follow your recipes and cook foods for the show that she was interested in trying. (She loved the tang pie). She passed away a couple of weeks ago and I just wanted to thank Max for some of the last good memories I was able to make with my mom.
What a beautiful memory you have with your mother. So very sorry for the loss of her.
Sorry for your loss.
-random internet stranger
Having lost my mother not long before I discovered this channel, my condolences. We’re all here for you
My condolences and sorry for your loss
this hits too close to home my mom and i watch max miller together, she is well but i will do better to make sure she is healthy , im so sorry for your loss, its incredible you shared this with the community, may she rest in peace
Hardtack story here. So I'm a saxophone player in a local street band and a few months ago we were playing at a large parade for the 250th anniversary of the founding of a neighboring town. Think people dressed as pioneers, tours of log cabins, etc. Minding my own business I hear someone mention hardtack and half a second later the echoing response was "tap tap." I was tickled to death that in the middle of nowhere there were others who know the call-and-response of "hardtack! tap tap!" It's almost as good as "Marco! Polo!"
😂
I can't hear "hardtack" any longer without adding in my head Max's slightly wacky grin and the "tap tap". They just go together now.
question, do you say "tap tap" or do you tap something a couple of times? I wanna be a part of this lol
I love this story, and ur totally right ab everyone knowing Max’s tap tap. But a little part of me thought u were gonna say in the middle of an old timey area & playing ur sax u incorporated the hardtack “tap tap” into ur performance-like making ur own instrument😃. I was like…that’s taking performing to another level.🤭
The stream had begun to dry up during one summer, and the camp prayed together. They had all been working together to dig wells failing to find water. One day during a storm, lightning struck the ground and a spring came from where the lightning had hit, giving the prisoners fresh water. Providence Spring. Really cool story, and there's a memorial to it there in the Camp.
That is mind-blowingly amazing. Thanks for sharing.
As soon as he read “crackers” in the recipe, I KNEW there’d be a hard tack reference…ohhh the excitement “clack clack”
Congrats on your success Max!
And Max knew it too. He was almost resigned to it today. "Oh man, the viewers KNOW it's coming up, may as well make this one obvious this time."
@@fazdoll The torches are pitchforks are going to come right out if he misses an obvious hardtack skit. And it's all of his own doing....
I'm selling the torches and pitchforks for the low low price of 40$ @@andersjjensen
At this point my spouse and I take bets on when the clip appears.
2.5 Million because we LIKE the food history, but we LOVE how you present the information, Max!
You are too kind 🙂
This right here, I find it similar to things like Crash Course. The way it is presented makes it something I didn't know I was looking for. A perfect balance of old recipes and the history behind them, all with the wonderful humor of *clack clack* hardtack, what's not to love.
Exactly. Came here for history, staying because of history with Max.
I approve this message 😂
@@TastingHistory kind, but accurate. your presentation style is a big part of the appeal.
whenever I hear "hardtack", even in other channels my brain automatically plays your "clack clack" clip in my head 😹 I think I got "Pavlov'ed" 😹😻
😂
I kinda wanna make a Newton’s cradle with hard tack
I'll randomly check for a gif or meme whenever I hear "hard tack" and still haven't found one. I feel like there needs to be one. 😂
I watch a lot of cooking on UA-cam, Even when other people say hardtack they are using that clip of Max.
You are not alone.
When my cat was younger, she used to bring me mice. I always thanked her, because I realized, in a post apocalyptic situation, I’d probably be damn glad to get that mouse! She was just trying to take care of me. ❤️
She thought of you as her mother and was showing you she could hunt
My late cat Joe used to do that too.
That is a great cat! Mousing cats are the best!
When I was little, we had an outdoors cat. He would bring us birds. Kept the mice to himself, with nothing but the guts left when he was done with them. Have a cat now too, but he's strictly an indoors boy.
Mmm…mouse soup!
My great grandfather was in Andersonville and according to family lore after getting out he walked from Georgia to New York and everyone thought he had expired because no one had heard from him and when he arrived on the doorstep, he had lost enough of his weight that no one recognized him. It took months for him to recuperate from his ordeal. Walking all the way home was preferable than continuing to fight in the war after being stuck in a Confederate prison for about a whole year. Sounded like he never fully got over what he saw in there.
My German-immigrant ancestor, William, was one of the first to be sent to Andersonville, helping dig those wells inside the prison. He survived with a head wound from the battle where he was captured, and a ball of shot was left in the side of his head.
He lived to be 74 with that would that never fully healed, and was always painful. When asked, he was known to stare into the distance saying "nobody would believe the things I've seen..."
Very cool story. Glad you are able to pass on this history.
Yikes.
My maternal Great -Great Grandfather: Evans, Yancey, Private: Born in Bertie County where he resided
prior to enlisting at Plymouth, NC, on December 1, 1863, at the age
of 19. Present or accounted for until captured at Plymouth, April
17-20, 1864. Confined at Andersonville, Georgia, and Florence,
South Carolina. Paroled at Charleston, South Carolina, on December
10, 1864, and transferred to hospital at Annapolis, Maryland, where
he was admitted on December 15, 1864. Furloughed on December 19,
1864. Returned from furlough on February 8, 1865. Present or
accounted for until mustered out on July 15, 1865.
2:25 Regarding the "papers pepper": In Bremen, Germany, a banquet of the Seafarers' Guild is held (almost) annually since 1545 (this year for the 480th time). This event is very traditional and highly regulated, e.g. the menu is strictly defined and has remained unchanged for centuries. In any case, the table setting at this banquet traditionally includes (among other things) little paper cones with pepper, so I would assume that it was customary to package it like this in the past.
That sounds really cool , do you know where I could learn more about it?
@@RosieMe5 Of course. It is called "Schaffermahlzeit" and has it's own website, explaining a lot about the event.
How cool! I live in Bremen, and even have a friend that has attended the Schaffermahlzeit…but I didn’t know about the pepper!!
Maybe ground pepper for seasoning?
I suspect in 4oz (113g) measurements.
Like any typical girl, I was a huge Civil War buff starting at age 11. My grandparents had a coffee table book about Andersonville. The images of emaciated prisoners and hangings are burned into my mind.
A common joke during the Civil War era:
Soldier Billy- yesterday, I bit into a piece of hardtack, and I bit into something soft.
Soldier Johnny- was it a worm?
Soldier Billy- no, it was a nail.
Obligatory "Clack clack!"
Believe it or not there's a company in N.Y. that still makes hardtack and has been since the Civil War. Most of their customers today are reenactors though.
If you’ve ever watched Steve1989, the MRE guy, you’d know that hard tack (clack clack) was used by the military through at least WWI, and crackers similar through at least WWII. But it’s not surprising that the company can make a business out of supplying reenactors.
In my country, there are tipical pastries in a city that I wonder how people are supposed to eat them.
I tried one when I was around 10yo, and I even if I chewed it with all my determination for a long time, I never managed to eat more than a few centimeters.
I wonder if hardtack is harder or softer than those pastries.
Anyway, those pastries are perfect for a diet: you can't gain weight if you can't eat. 😂
Nail the body part or nail the hardware bit?
Vinegar doesn’t actually help scurvy at all. They just thought it would at the time because they thought acids helped. But vinegar doesn’t contain any vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
Note: If they *REALLY* wanted to stop the scurvy, they shoulda used raw lemon, lime and grapefruit peels. Orange peels work okay enough, but honestly you'd need to eat a whole unpeeled orange to compare to the other citrus peels alone. :\
The *peels* usually have around double the amount of vitamins C compared to the flesh parts. They also store longer than the flesh, which means that they are technically more practical for this use too, so long as you can convince people to actually eat them.
apple cider vinegar does have vit c.
This episode had everything. Complaints about cooking, reading through receipts, *HORRIBLE DEPRESSING WAR STORIES* and a nice little pie at the end. How lovely!
And don't forget the hard tack!
@@Nanook128*clack clack*
Congratulations on 2.5 million!
Thank you 😊
Indeed congrats on that great milestone 🎉
The 'hardtack' cut will never get old.
Nope. Never!
Much like the tack itself 😂
69 likes now :)
As usual.
Literally was gonna write the same. It's the way it pops in and the facial expression cracks me up EVERYTIME! 😂🤣
I remember, years ago, back during COVID, I asked you in the comments about medieval german baking recipes, and you actually responded. It really did make my day.
You've come a long way, Max, and you have a lot to be proud of. I was never much one for food history, but I always did love history - and what better way to resurrect a slice of the past than through that inescapable human necessity, food? I've cooked a bunch of the recipes you've featured since then, and enjoyed all of them. Parthian Chicken is a favorite of mine. And how I *wish* modern european cuisine resembled its medieval predecessor. 🤤
I did made a medieval Krapfen once from (Ein Buch von guter speise)!
Der Schlemmergermane hase stuff as well if you speak german!
I put even my interpretation in to the web, if you are intersted maybe i can help!
@@killerkraut9179 I'd love your assistance! It's been a problem I've been unable to resolve for years, as I don't speak German. I do want to learn German though - I've simply not had the time.
I have an email up on my channel description. You can reach me there.
What I'm really looking for are dishes from the middle ages which are endemic to the Harz mountains, or regions immediately south of the Harz, mostly Thuringia.
@@bobdobsin6216 Maybe the best expert in German medieval food is maybe Claudia Zimmermann
there is video with her in the channel
ARCHÄOLOGIE kurz erklärt sadly in german
maybe auto translate will help?
@@bobdobsin6216 Do you have a account in the Historium forum?
I think it's a testament to the quality of Tasting History that the channel just keeps growing since it first blew up in 2020, when we were all in lockdown and cooking videos were getting big view counts all over UA-cam. Tasting History, however, has increased in subscribers and quality since that initial success (those early video remain wonderful, by the way), as Max has created consistently excellent, well-researched, and entertaining videos week after week, chasing his own passions and interests instead of trends. Flat-out one of the best channels on UA-cam in any category and the video I look forward to the most every week. The Tasting History Cookbook was a no-brainer buy for me.
YES!!!!!!!!!! Max to the max!!!!!!! Maximum Max!!!!!!! Love you, love your content!!!!!!!!!💖💖🥰🥰
Don't forget that the stream running through Andersonville was being used by a confederate camp not far upstream. There was no "clean" water.
Just like green commies are whining about they themselfs f'ing up entire pripyet marshes and the waters where their old subs rest😂
Ayuwoki
They washed and drank upstream, and still bathroomed down stream of the camp. But the water dammed up with sewage, so the entire stream turned rancid both sides. The smell was so bad, towns miles away complained of the smell.
6:50 "What's that? Oh, these? These are just my Nice Buns. Do you want to feel my Nice Buns or just have a taste?" sounds like the kind of thing that gets you kicked out of the baking club
😂🤣😂🖖💕
He made another buns comment in a previous video. Maybe an inside joke.
I took a screenshot of that to send to my husband because he's always telling me "nice buns" 😂
"Finley, we discussed this last week... please put down your rolling pin. You're no longer welcomed in this club."
Well, heavens, what kind of baking club did you belong to? My friends and I used to try to outdo one another at creating erotic breadsticks, sweet rolls, and buns.
That hardtack clip really is the gift that keeps on giving. XD Also of note: vinegar does nothing for scurvy. In the 19th century they thought anything acidic would prevent scurvy, but that's not the case. You have to have vitamin C, and vinegar has none. White vinegar or apple cider vinegar, doesn't matter, won't help prevent or treat scurvy.
Pine needles, however, have a ton of vitamin C and is how the Native Americans treated it.
thank you! i was searching for this comment. might be smart to have a little disclaimer in cases such as this.. no point in bringing back historic misinformation ^^
@@michaelanderson2166Really?
I figured if you made the needles into a tea of sorts, the boiling would destroy the vitamin C, which is what happens when you try to cook or preserve many other sources of vitamin C.
So now I'm wondering how they consumed it, just as is?
@@camerapasteurize7215 If you just pour boiling water over something, and especially if you cover it while it steeps, most if not all of the vitamin C is retained. Compare rose hip tea. But if you boil it for a while, yes you will destroy it.
I wondered about the vinegar, thanks for clearing that up!
Max is our cool uncle who can cook, is really kind, and teaches us history. Tuesdays are cooking with uncle Max day. I need to cook this myself now.
The stories I have heard of Andersonville would shake the most resilient down to the core
My 3rd great grandfather survived Andersonville prison. He was in ill health for the rest of his life. Later on several of his family members died from TB. My great grandfather was one of the few that survived. ❤
My great-great grandfather C.S. Aldrich was an Union office that was captured in 1863 and taken to Andersonville. Since he was an officer, he was treated somewhat better and wasn't interred in the main POW camp itself but rather in an encampment that was just outside. With a few fellow officers, he escaped north, receiving food--probably corn fritters and provisions from black slaves along the way north and eventually crossed into the northern territory. Our family still has his old medals and pistol, but sadly a collector down south somewhere has his sword. C.S. Aldrich eventually made his way west to settle in southern Colorado while it was still a territory rather than a state. Our family loves history and that is why I appreciate your videos and have even bought your cook book!
Was he kin to the Foster family? My wife's family was related to the Aldrich family, out of RI. We've got an officer's sword in the family. Very ornate with an ivory hilt. My granddaughter has it now. There is a long family history to it, but you might be related.
I really appreciate the addition of pertinent Pokemon stuffies in each video. Applin for the pie and Rattata for the scrounging of rats
The best thing to note is that it is a knockoff applin, since this is a Mock apple pie.
@@DefectiveFish that's genius
Yeah Ratatta was the darkest and most applicable choice LOL
I love the history, and the food, but the Pokémon keeps me enthralled.
Whole branches of my family fought in the Civil War for the union, and a good portion of my family settled in and around Sandusky, Ohio where I was born briefly before we relocated to Cleveland. I grew up boating and taking the ferry to Put-In-Bay (another awesome historical location from the War of 1812) but was never aware of Johnson's Island or the Confederate cemetery just around the corner! I'm moving back to Ohio after completing my military service, and I'm VERY excited to go and see these locations! This show always has something new for me to absorb, much love Max!
2.5 million subscribers who see your excellent production skill, your clear articulate speech, your well researched scripts, and your gorgeous self.
Excellent work, Max. Thank you!
We watched a movie in school about the Andersonville Trial. The guy who was the captain/admiral (?) on the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series was in it. I remember feeling sick afterwards from hearing about the conditions and hearing "I was following orders" just added to that feeling. This was in the 6th grade or so.
When i went home and told my folks they started telling me about the WW II concentration camps in Germany, etc. It's horrible to think of how we treat each other and never learn to do better
I think I know which movie you mean. It's not very accurate. For one it doesn't depict the part where he multiple times tried to get the Union to come get the prisoners because they couldn't supply food for them. It also omits the parts where Confederate troops donated their own food stores to the troops earlier in the war.
People learn it’s just the ones that have the funds to stop it are the ones who profit the most from it.
Richard Basehart the actor, is who your thinking of. Wonderful voice for documentaries.
I made mock apple pie in my 8th grade science class years ago! I do not remember the full reaction, but I believe the starches in the crackers are denatured by the cream of tartar and turn into simpler sugars and aromatic compounds that, thanks to a combo of pure luck and a little nutmeg, tastes REMARKABLY like apple pie filling
Just wanted to say thank you for this fascinating comment! I'm always interested in the science of food (why it does what it does) so this information was a lovely extra fillip on top of all the info in the video itself! 🥰
Chicken piccata... approved by Rattata.
The history of the US Civil War is full of sadness: the origins of the war, the battles during. Thank you for highlighting this facet of the war, and continuing to do it through food.
Max, I first discovered your channel in 2020 when I was sick with COVID during my college winter break and I’ve been subscribed ever since! Now I have my BA and currently in my second year of grad school! Thank you for being uniquely you and sharing food and history with us💖💖
Hardtack clack clack will NEVER get old. It gives me such serotonin.
So the clack is healthier than the hardtack.
The history is fun. But your presentation, humor, and personality is what has kept me coming back over the last few years (and many others I believe).
Congratulations on 2.5M 🎉🎉
You certainly deserve it.
It finally happened. Max has topped the Townsends. Two of the most wholesome channels in existence.
Townsend for authenticity, Max for practical recreations
I was a Rev War reenactor for decades, and made my first Townsend’s purchase in 1986. It’s so bizarre that millions know Townsend’s primarily as a UA-cam channel.
My two favorite cooking channels
@lotharbeck71
I legitimately thought it was just a cooking channel, until I went to their website and was blown away by the variety of items they sell.
Look up lefse. It's made with potatoes, and it makes an eminently rollable dough -- my grandmother would roll it out paper thin.
I will do just that!
I was thinking of that, too. I spent my first year of college at Pacific Lutheran, where our school cheer was "Lutefisk, lutefisk, lefse, lefse, we're the mighty Lutherans, ya sure, you betcha!" They were served with dinner on Lucia Day, Dec 13. (NO to lutefisk 🤢.)
My great-great-great-grandfather was taken from the 12th New York Cavalry and sent to Andersonville. This probably doesn't surprise anyone, but he didn't see the end of the war.
What _might_ surprise people is that I don't actually blame Henry Wirz. He was, from what I've read, actually pretty frantic about trying to get more rations. They hanged the wrong person for that.
I think someone had to be held responsible, and 25,000+ men had died there. The buck stopped at his desk.
@@rustomkanishka No, the buck stopped at Davis's desk.
@@rustomkanishkaHe was the scapegoat. But he was in a difficult situation and not given enough to take care of all those prisoners.
My first impulse at hearing that he was executed was to say "good", but then I realized there was no need to jump to conclusions, knowing nothing about him or what he may have tried to do.
Congratulations on getting to 2.5 million viewers! We love the history of the food, your honest comments about the taste of the recipe, your proper pronunciation of foreign words, your wit, your charm, your enthusiasm for the topic, your cats, & last, but not least, your signature "clack, clack" of hardback. Thank you, Max, for wonderful posts!
Come for the history, stay for the hard tack references and Max's charming personality.
Thanks for the video! My great great grandfather died of dysentery in a prisoner of war camp in the Civil War. To be fair, records indicate he and his son (my great great uncle) came down with dysentery before being captured. Both died. The father languishing as a prisoner of war, the son released to a local doctor's house where he eventually died. It's good to see a breakdown of the prisoner food experience.
I'm very sorry for the losses your family suffered.
It was a horrible war.
"Who knew there were so many food history lovers?" There weren't. This channel brought out the food history lover in all of us!
Maybe the true food history lover were the fellow subscribers he made along the way.
I think part of the reason there are so many subscribers is because there's a huge appetite for history shows that actually discuss history, unlike The History Channel with their newest reality show or "its aliens / Angels / ghosts" show.
I really admire you for coming up with this series. I graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1976. I earned double majors in history and criminal justice. I earned honors in history. I've been cooking for 58 years, and if I wasn't in poor health at 70 I'd give you a run for your money. BRAVO!
It's hard to believe that I stumbled on this weird niche fusion-channel of food and history during the pandemic and it's now at 2.5million subscribers. big congrats Max :)
So did I!! The pandemic at least had one thing good coming from it😂
Yay, civil war episodes! The primary writing from this period is always so beautiful.
It’s my favorite to read.
Ooh! A Tasting History episode that I have some expertise in! I used to work at Fort Delaware which was a coastal defense fort built on a small island in the Delaware River that would be used as a prison during the Civil War because it was a well-defended site away from the front lines that received constant supplies from Philadelphia and few prisoners could swim making it the ideal location.
When it came to food, Fort Delaware was one of the much better prisons to be at for a captured Confederate because their food wasn't much worse in quality than the Union soldiers. Every day, a shipment of cattle would be brought to the fort by boat to be butchered and so fresh beef was eaten daily, usually cooked in stews with vegetables and vinegar along with plenty of fresh-baked bread. A daily ration would be given out to the prisoners who would elect cooks from amongst themselves to prepare it. The prisoner ration was notably smaller than the soldier ration and had far less variety (Union cooks would receive sugar, the prisoners had to use molasses) but it still came regularly and so starvation was rarely an issue. Some prisoners who refused to do any hard labor around the fort out of protest even reportedly gained weight!
Prisoners and soldiers alike could both buy ingredients from the Fort's sutler shop as well though since the sutler had more or less a monopoly, the prices were still exorbitant although interestingly, the Fort issued a special currency that was only redeemable at the sutler shop. If the prisoners received any money through mail, it was exchanged for this currency and prisoners could also do hard labor jobs around the fort in exchange for a small wage of it. It was forbidden to let the prisoners have actual money because they might try to bribe guards or use it if they ever escaped.
My third great grandfather was captured at Gettysburg and held at Fort Delaware until June 1865. He walked home to Mississippi.
It's not just the food history, it's the way you present it makes it easy to enjoy even if it isn't something they are interested in. This means it's something my husband and I can watch together.
What I'm trying to say is thank you for making the history of food preparation more palatable for the common man (or husband in my case)
me cheering at the hard tack clapping clip like i’m watching a sport
That crust would make for a fascinating reverse shepherds pie. Another fascinating episode!
Or a kind of alternate bread bowl! Ooh, imagine a good thick beef bourguignon in a potato crust. Yum.
As a Turk who loves American food, I hold the belief that there's no such thing as a bad apple pie.
I agree
Ever had it with a slice of cheese on top?
@@MrSheckstr Sadly, no :(
@@UkuleleVillainas people from Nova Scotia (and probably other places, but I heard it from my Nanny) “Apple pie without cheese, is like a kiss without a squeeze”
@UkuleleVillain based
2.5 million is well-deserved and hard-won. I've been following and enjoying your work since before you made the decision to end your employment with Disney; and while the history is interesting, it's your dedication to research and your presentation that will always keep me (and my family!) coming around. Thanks, Max!
Prison food was horrific, no argument there, but a big part of that was because there wasn't food to be had. Confederate soldiers weren't eating much better, and losses to starvation and dysentery were shocking, even among the troops. A lack of standardized rail width was part, but not all of the problem. Trains aren't cars. You can't mix and match wheel spacing. So when you have to offload goods from one train to another because the tracks don't match, distributing the little food there is becomes a lot harder. My great grand uncle to some remove was a Union soldier who went on Sherman's March and he kept a diary. He wrote that entire platoons would surrender in the hopes of being fed in Union prison camps. They were all slowly starving already.
Someone I knew who had been a P.W. of the Germans pointed-out that they were being fed the official civilian ration but 0.) they weren't and 1.) even if they were, some civilians had access to gardens in allotments, food from relatives in the country, and the Black Market.
The last year or so of the war, all the Red Cross parcels they were supposed to get from England vanished, likely stolen by the guards, who were mostly barely out of boyhood or old men or missing an arm.
I really like when Max adopts a serious voice tone when talking about harsh issues, he makes you feel the depths of the tragedy. I would love to listen to podcasts by him on history, even if they are not food-related. Such a good story teller!
🤣🤣 "hardtack *clack clack*" lives rent free in my head now.
IKR 😂😂 I laugh way too hard every time
It’s always funny 😂 Every frkn time, the look on his face while he does the *clack clack* kills me dead😂
It lives rent free in ALL our heads! 🤣🤣🤣
Me, too...and I couldn't be happier!
04:22 clack clack. I love it and hope it will come up in many more videos.
I started watching back in 2021 because I was looking for a food history channel that showed information about medieval recipes in particular. I’m a member of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and the timeframe of focus is pre-17th century. I was thrilled to find your channel! I stayed because your storytelling skills and personality are fantastic! In addition to your medieval recipes I’ve learned a tremendous amount from all time periods. I binged all your videos all the way to the beginning shortly after I started watching your channel. Tuesday has become one of my favorite days of the week ever since. My family knows exactly who I’m referring to when I say anything about “Max” or “Jose” too. Thank you so much for sticking with it in the beginning. Also, congratulations on reaching 2.5M!! And “nice buns” he he he 😂😂😂
P.S. Every time I hear hard tack mentioned in another historic video, I immediately envision your video clip! I love it!
My stepfather was a POW in WW2. His experience with hunger stayed with him for the rest of his life. He loved to cook.
When you go through US Army OCS, part of the training is a trip to Andersonville. I went just a couple years ago. The big point of the trip is to reinforce that if you become a POW, you band together to support your fellow soldiers as you only have each other at that point. There was a group of Union POWs who formed a gang to prey on other prisoners. It was so bad that with approval from the Confederate commandant, a counter group of Union POWs were formed to deal with the issue in-house. The offending POWs were tried and executed by Union POWs, their bodies buried separate from the rest of the men when the Andersonville National Cemetery was established. Another point driven home on this trip was that you may think that you are safe in a support MOS, but one of the prisoners who died at Andersonville was a sailor in the US Navy. He did finance.
Two things you missed when discussing the water situation:
1) Those illustrations give the creek far too much credit. Perhaps it was fuller in the 1860s but today it's certainly not much to look at.
2) The water situation would be alleviated somewhat when a lightning strike caused a new spring to form. This would become known as Providence Spring, which still flows to this day.
Parents if your children ever go there there, then make it black & white, clear as crystal: The National POW Museum, and Andersonville National Cemetery is not the place for selfies, tikie-tokies, or other frivolous cell phone bullshit.
The person I know who was nearly starved to death when P.W. of the Germans never got into details of how things got near the end, when he was down to about 40kg. He was with English and Yank prisoners, I got the impression that the breakdown of discipline among the Yanks was starting to get dangerous, the Tommies had been there longer and were kept in line by their Sergeant-Major, e.g. they were not allowed to complain about things about which they could do nothing.
Max, as a subscriber since the beginning of the channel, I would like to point out that it isn't just the love of food history, but of your presentation. History is fascinating, but the presentation is as important, if not more, to the telling of the story as the facts themselves. Thank you for all of your effort!
I had a relative captured at Cold Harbor, and he was shipped to Andersonville. he was there near the end of the war and he was released sent to DC and then had to walk from there. He was so emaciated when he got home, his family thought he was a wandering homeless person. they literally didn't recognize him.
We used to make “Dozer Pie” in the Army Corp of Engineers from various ingredients from our MREs …. We would eat our breakfast main by slitting open the packet on its narrow end…. Then the inside would be wiped out with the useless wad of TP that came with the MRE.
Smashed crackers, citrus fruit drink powder , freeze dried fruit compote, jelly and a little tabasco were combind and stuff into the bottom half the mains packet… using the spoon the end of the packet was rolled to tightly pack the contents then the whole mess was duck tapeds to the engine cowling of a bull dozer….. then everyone went to work…. Come lunch time everyone had a McDonalds hot apple pie
When people want something to eat, especially something sweet, they WILL find a way!
This is the real reason humans have survived this long . Our ability to scrounge food EVERY WHERE and make something out of it !!
I had to laugh at the requirement to duct tape the package to the engine cowling. I was reminded of my late uncle’s tall tales of truck driver cooking, which usually meant that a can of the desired food would be duct taped or clamped to the engine for an hour or so. God help you if the can split or exploded, because the mechanics would laugh you out of the shop!
lol
one of my great great great uncles, James Duncan Hood, fought with the 22nd Michigan and died as a POW at Andersonville, thanks for the video giving a bit of a glimpse into what that was like Max
Love that you mentioned Johnson's Island! I spent two summers there excavating the old prison site for archaeological field school.
Hi.Max. Do you remember the recipe
for mock apple pie on the back of boxes of Ritz crackers
back in the '60s? I made one when I was in grade school and
it was uncanny how the chemical reaction to the other
ingredients ( most likely the cream of tarter, lemon juice, cinnamon and
sugar) gave those Ritz crackers the texture and flavor of real apples.
I've had it, too. It's delicious. 👍
@tastinghistory When my grandma was making potato based dough, she always pointed out that we should wait for the potato to cool, otherwise it will take a LOT more flour to get anything that is not sticky and nasty and it will be super hard when it is baked. So cool you potatoes before adding flour then you can actually get to a rollable decent dough consistency with just a few spoons of flour.
reference Swedish leftsa...
The hard tack clip *still* makes me giggle every time. Every. Single. Time. Even when it happens more than once in the same video. 🤣
😂😂😂EVERY SINGLE TIIIME😂😂
Shoutout from the Elmira area! The site of the Civil War prison camp hosts a museum with a newly reconstructed section of the stockade, complete with a guard-house. they also have one of the original barracks buildings. It is manned by dedicated volunteers often in uniform. Hellmira had a similar situation as Andersonville with the water. the only source being a stagnant stream/ pond that quickly became a cesspool. Not one of our more glorious contributions to history, but an important one none the less. Its more pleasant to talk about the summers Mark Twain spent in our city, writing some of his most famous books. Elmira is also the Northernmost site with graves of Confederate soldiers. they were so carefully and respectfully interred by John Jones (who's home is another great local museum), a former slave who settled in Elmira with its strong abolitionist community and worked for the cemetery, that the southern council sent to reclaim the bodies decided they could stay. Side note: the museum in neighboring town of Horseheads has a piece of the rope used to hang Wirz in their Civil War display. Now I wanna make some of that pie!
Hellmira is on my "kinda want to go there" list. One of my ancestors was a prisoner there. Luckily he survived and made it home. (In very poor physical condition, but he was alive.) I've been to Camp Sumter since it's relatively close by, but there's no personal connection to it.
I came for the Elmira reference as well.
Your kitchen is gorgeous. Thank you for the research you put with your recipes. Really brings history alive.
congratulations Max!! honestly, no-one deserves it more :') it may have been the food and history that brought us here, but it's you that made us stay~ from the clear respect you show for the history and cultures you're researching, to the diligence in the pursuit for authenticity and truth, to the way you present, your personality, your energy, and that lovely smile -- those are what we fell in love with.
so thank YOU Max for giving us a channel so worth supporting
I am a history nerd. I love learning about it.
I am also a guy who likes food. I can’t cook, but I like food.
This series has scratched both itches, and I can’t thank you enough l for it!
Saving up to get the book as a coffee table item.. Love this channel
@KC-gy5xw very much worth any cost. Lovely book and very well written and illustrated.
It’s worth noting that the lavish conditions for confederate officers in 1861 may have a had a lot to do with the belief of the time that it would be a quick war. As the war went on I’d suspect the lavish treatment ceased
Early on many wars have a gentleman's agreement between officers. During the North African campaign of WWII, the German and British Generals in charge of the southern area both agreed to a basic 9-5 war with minimal commando type raids. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel later even met with the British soldiers who were sent to infiltrate his command and assassinate him. He congratulated them on getting as far as they did, despite failing. During the Sicilian and Italian campaign it wasn't rare for many Italian prisoners to attempt "escape" by simply walking away from the areas they were being held. They didn't see it as an escape. They had done their duty, properly identified and registered as POWs, and were going home because the war was over for them.
As wars drag on the people fighting get angrier, more frustrated, and seek revenge more often. Things tend to quickly spiral downward from there.
@@christopherconard2831 ah...just like my marriage.
@@christopherconard2831
Reminds me of how in early WW1, pilots of opposing armies just flew by one another with a few documented cases of them even waving hellos. Over time, they started to throw bricks and eventually shoot at each other once armed fighter planes were developed.
Congratulations on 2.5 million man! 💯
Thank you 😊
Congrats on the subscribers, PS andersonville also had a military base right next to the prison upstream, which due to waste thrown in by soldiers cause the water downstream to be contaminated and and help to spread disease to the prisoners.
The sly little look that you gave to the camera when you said "but what *kind* of crackers" is just. I just. You *knew* we were going to instantly guess where you were going with that (hardtack). You are a goofball and entirely too adorable.
Max, I've been having a shit 24 hours, but that "nice buns" in my ear, in that tone, made me crack up laughing. Thank you!
So sorry to hear that, but glad I could brighten the day a bit.
Make this mock apple pie quick enough, and it's a mach apple pie!
Good enough, take a like.
I like this. I like this a lot.
Applause to you good pal. It took me a second to understand the joke.
Found some fine green powdered tea in mine and had to extract it. Guess it was a matcha-pull pie.
I'll leave now
This reminded me of Speed Racer.
I lived in Georgia in the mid '00s, and visited Andersonville. Very humbling place.
I have someone in my ancestry who died in a Civil War Confederate prison. Throughout his service, in his diary, he was always writing about what food he got, including 'fritters from a dutchman'. He must have been beyond destrought to see that prison food.
Your channel is the perfect balance of food and history, with enough detail to inform, but not to overwhelm. Also I just love how much use you've had from the hard tack "clack clack" clip 😅. Thanks for all the great content!!!
You should do a video about what the soldiers in the Continental Army ate during the American Revolution. In many cases their rations were as little as those in Andersonville -- and they weren't even in prison! (Joseph Plumb Martin describes one "Thanksgiving" when all they had to eat was a little rice and vinegar.) Many of them mutinied.
Sincerest congratulations and salutations to you Max...
2.5 million.. Wow... Kudos
Thank you 😊
Congratulations, Max. Your personality has a lot to do with your popularity. Each week, your content is so well done. I can tell you do a great amount of research to convey the subject matter accurately. Love your channel. ❤
Elmira, NY born, raised in Elmira Heights, NY. Found your channel this morning, and I love it!
I genuinely adore that you still use the hardtack cut. Please, never stop doing that!
Great show as always, Max! But I am mourning your green and yellow tile. I loved that tile. Still, it's your kitchen, and I hope you and Jose enjoy it!
My great great grandad was a civil war prisoner twice, he was held in fort mchenry, md and was then paroled, rejoined the confederates in tennessee, and was wounded and captured a second time being sent to fort delaware (pea patch island). Delaware was appearently much nicer than most prisons, and the officers held there were allowed to leave the stockades to go fishing on the island. He spent the rest of the war there
Every single time i watch this guy, its to see him cook, and i watch him cook it and without even knowing, im 10 minutes into his history lesson and completely forgot about the food. Then he just whips it out and I'm like oh yeah that's why I'm here
YES!!!!!!!!!!! Another STELLAR episode from my favorite YT channel!!!!!!! Max to the max!!!!!!! Maximum Max!!!!!!! Love you, love your content!!!!!!!💖💖🥰🥰✌✌🎈🎈
My grandma once made a mock apple pie out of zucchini, which was cut in slices that looked like apple slices. With lemon juice and apple pie spices, overall, it was extremely close in flavor and texture! And for people that end up with a vast mountain of zucchini, it's a great way to use some of it!
I live in Australia, and my mother and grandmother used to make mock apple pie using Choko, I think in the US you call it Chayote or Alligator Pear. Use alone, or if you have some apple to make a pie, adding Choko makes it go further, a similar texture, and it takes on the taste of whatever you cook it with.
Ingredients:
3 cups chayote fruit (cut ¼" thick, sliced)
2½ cups water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves)
1 pinch Salt
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
Method.
peel, deseed and slice or dice the chayote into ¼" thick pieces.(peal under running water as the sap is sticky)
Place Chayote slices in 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Allow slices to become fork tender and remove from water.
In a medium pot add cooked Choko. Add the additional ingredients and cook down until thickened.
Allow to cool slightly and use as you would canned Apple Pie Filling.
"Alligator Pear" isn't chayote - it's an older name for avocados.
@@procrastiknitter3733 Thank you for the correction. I read somewhere that another name for Choko was Chayote or Alligator Pear.Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read. I only know it by the name we call it in Australia, and that is Choko.
Choko was my first thought when i saw mock apple. We grew it when I was a kid, and I remember my Mum boiling it up and serving it with dinner - i hated it! If she had made this though - I think i would have had a better opinion of the ole choko.
Could we see what the officers/guards/warden at these prisons are next? Also, been watching your content for about half a year now, I really enjoy it both as a history, buff and a cooking enthusiast, keep up the good work!
As a graduate of US Navy SERE School - it hits home - a week of very short rations (mostly what we could forage/catch in the mountain-desert terrain) while running on the Survival/Evasion portion, and not much more during the 3 days in Prison Camp (Resistance/Escape)... every student lost 10-30 pounds during the week and was near hallucinations due to the malnutrition.
I can't imagine it as a prisoner of a year or more.
Ty for your service!
Sailor, delete this comment. The contents of SERE are classified SECRET. Be careful what you say on the internet and just enjoy these wonderful cooking videos.
Wow. What an amazing story! I had never heard about POW camps during the Civil War. Of course there were, but for some reason, it never sunk into my head that POWs happened. Thank you so much for telling those stories.
I actually got to visit Andersonville for a field trip when I was growing up in Georgia. This was after watching a movie dramatizing the whole ordeal of being a prisoner there.
Congratulations on 2.5 million, Ive been watching you since near the beginning and Im stoked to see you get the recognition you deserve.
Congratulations on 2.5 million subscribers!
I’m very glad you decided to keep doing this instead of returning to your previous job, and clearly, I’m not alone. 😊
Congratulations on 2,5 mln subs. ❤ It looks like there's so many food history lovers, but it's not the only reason to success for your channel. I love how much effort you put in looking for all this information, and your pronounciation of foreign words is something to admire for. Oh, and your nice personality doesn't hurt too. 😅❤
This makes my day 😃
@@TastingHistory You make OUR day with each new video! We love you, Max! 💞
Congratulations Max! 2.5 million is amazing!
I ABSOLUTELY love your channel Max and i look forward to new episodes. They are my comfort. I grew up loving history with my mom and the way you pair the history and food and everything....its simply amazing!! Shout out to your partner as well and all the folx who contribute to put this all together!!! It is SO appreciated!!! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Congratulations!!! All the hard work & hard tack really shows!!!
I bought your book for me mum, and I actually want to thank YOU.
I didn't realise I was even interested in food history because of your channel and similar ones. But with your presentation and skill at research, I've found a new passion in learning history. I'm now much more well versed in many topics!
Glad you enjoy it now.